King Ghidorah: Monster Zero - The Movie
King Ghidorah: Master of Monsters - The Motion Picture is the theatrical movie adaptation of the similarly-titled anime series. The film is a retelling of the original Master of Monsters ''series, and as such, follows a different storyline. It holds several records in film history as the longest animated film ever made, as well as the highest grossing Japanese movie ever made. Film Stats '''Directed by' Kastushiro Ōtomo Produced by Shogo Togoyama Thomas Tull George Lucas Steven Speilberg Written by Katsushiro Ōtomo Izo Hashimoto Kazuki Omori Hiroshi Kashiwabara Wataru Mimura Based on King Ghidorah: Master of Monsters Starring Kōichi Yamadera Minori Chihara Hideo Ishikawa Shikuza Itou Shota Minami Ai Sakawa Tatsuya Nakadai Narrated by Tatsuya Nakadai Music by Shoji Yamashiro Reijiro Koroku Cinematography Yoshitami Kuroiwa Peter Suschitzky Edited by Takeshi Seyama Paul Hirsch Production companies Toho Company Limited Legendary Pictures Distributed by Toho Company Limited Warner Brothers Pictures Release Dates May 31, 2015 (Japan) June 1, 2015 (US) Running Time: 248 minutes Country Japan Language Japanese Budget '''$12,500,000 '''Worldwide Box Office Gross $160,000,000 Plot The film opens with a meteor landing on Earth, 65,600,000 years ago. The meteorite lands in Mexico, and it breaks out to awaken Cretaceous King Ghidorah, who proceeds to destroy the ecosystem and causes a massive meteor to crash into the planet, causing the K-T Extinction. Those that survive retreat underground, while, King Ghidorah ascends into space to continue to cause destruction across the universe. As the meteor lands, a Godzillasaurus roars in defiance. Flash forward to 1964, and King Ghidorah returns to Earth. Flashforward to 1964, and King Ghidorah returns to Earth. Landing in Kurobe Dam, he destroys most of the Japanese countryside before reaching Moint Fuji. Meanwhile, Godzilla, Anguirus, and Rodan are fighting, while Mothra intervenes in their duel, and asks them for help in defeating King Ghidorah. However, only Anguirus agrees, while Godzilla and Rodan reject her offer. Anguirus and Mothra then launch a well-organized but ultimately futile attempt at fighting King Ghidorah. However, Godzilla and Rodan arrive to help, shifting the balance of power. King Ghidorah is eventually defeated and retreats into space. Flashforward to 1964, and King Ghidorah returns to Earth. Landing in Kurobe Dam, he destroys most of the Japanese countryside before reaching Moint Fuji. Meanwhile, Godzilla, Anguirus, and Rodan are fighting, while Mothra intervenes in their duel, and asks them for help in defeating King Ghidorah. However, only Anguirus agrees, while Godzilla and Rodan reject her offer. Anguirus and Mothra then launch a well-organzied but ultimately futile attempt at fighting King Ghidorah. However, Godzilla and Rodan arrive to help, shifting the balance of power. King Ghidorah is eventually defeated and retreats into space. Cast Quotes Production Development In early 2014, a few months into Master of Monsters' meteoric series run and unparalleled ratings, the fanbase began to cry out for a movie adaptation. Toho later announced that a movie adaptation had been greenlighted and set for release on 2015. The original plan was a stock footage recap movie, but Toho elected to not follow through with that as they thought that the fanbase would react negatively to it. Filming Much like the series, the film and the dub also utilized the use of emotion acting as supposed to standard voice acting styles. And also like the series, the animation (under TMS) was done after the voice recording sessions so that the actors wouldn't have to lip-synch with the animation. Most of the acting for the Japanese dub took place at Toho Studios' Studio Stage 9, where they had earlier done the voice work series and where Toho had filmed Terror of MechaGodzilla ''in 1975. Meanwhile, the English cast did their acting the spacious 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios in London. Post-production Editing the movie fell into the hands of Takeshi Seiyama and Paul Hirsch. Seyama edited ''Akira ''while Hirsch edited ''Star Wars ''and ''The Empire Strikes Back. '' Release The world premiere was held on May 31, 2015 at Toho's Roppongi Hills Cinema, decked out in a Godzilla-style motif with most of the crew and Japanese dub cast attending. Steven Speilberg, and George Lucas also attended. The dub cast couldn't attend, however, being busy with, preparations for the English dub's premiere. They did however, send a wreath signed "''To our esteemed Japanese counterparts: sorry we couldn't attend; but we do hope that you show the world who the TRUE master of monsters really is. Signed Andrew Jackson, Maryke Hendrikse, Eric Stuart, Rachel Lillis, and the English dub cast." When the June 1 release date for the English dub arrived, the event was held in Odeon Leicester Square in London, to a red-carpet reception. Reception Box Office Master of Monsters '' set records in Japan upon it's release; it out-grossed Hayao Miyazaki's ''Spirited Away, ''the earlier record holder by a staggering amount: $150 million to the former's $60 million, making it the highest-grossing movie in Japanese history. Critical response It holds an 79% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The site's consensus read: ''King Ghidorah: Master of Monsters - The Motion Picture, despite some defects, is headed by an electrifying voice cast and acting, execptional animation, an amazing score, and epic grandeur on a Kurosawan scale, is a movie as big as it's titanic antihero and worth every dollar spent - or yen, depending on which side of the Pacific you're on. Many were impressed by the film's epic scale and production values. When FuNimation made a poll of the Top 100 Anime Movies, the film came out at number 12, one spot below Farewell To Space Battleship Yamato ''and one spot above ''The Disappearance of Harui Suzumiyra. '' Other Media Novelization A novelization written by Kazuki Omori the shelves on the same day the Japanese dub was released. To keep secrecy of the plot at a maximum, the release of the book was initially released only to the attendees of the premiere event at Roppongi Hills, with a wider release after the first screening. Fredrick L. Schodt translated for the English version. The same strategy for the Japanese book release was the same as the English version. The book has 712 pages and there are several story additions, such as the filling of backstories for the characters. Theatrical Releases *Argentina *Australia *Austria *Belgium *Bolivia *Brazil *Bulgaria *Canada *Chile *China *Colombia *Croatia *Cyprus *Czech Republic *Denmark *Egypt *Estonia *Finland *France *Germany *Greece *Hong Kong *Hungary *Iceland *India *Indonesia *Israel *Italy *Japan *Korea *Latvia *Lebanon *Lithuania *Malaysia *Mexico *Netherlands *New Zealand *Norway *Panama *Peru *Philippines *Poland *Portugal *Puerto Rico *Romania *Russia *Serbia *Singapore *South Africa *Spain *Sweden *Switzerland *Taiwan *Thailand *Turkey *Ukraine *United Arab Emirates *United Kingdom *United States *Uruguay *Venezuela Accolades (Wins) Academy Awards * Best Director - Katsushiro Ōtomo * Best Animated Feature * Best Visual Effects * Best Score - Shoji Yamashir,o Reijiro Koroku * Best Editing - Takeshi Seyama, Paul Hirsch * Best Cinematography - Yoshitami Kuroiwa, Peter Suschitzky * Best Foreign Language Film Cannes Film Festival *''Palme D'Or *''Prix de la mise en scène'' - Katsushiro Ōtomo Venice Film Festival *Gold Lion *Silver Lion - Katsushiro Ōtomo Video Release Criterion Collection (2015) * Region: Region 1 * No. of discs: 1 * Video Type: Blu-ray * Language: Japanese, English * Format: Widescreen, NTSC, Color, Subtitled * Other Features: ** 2.22:1 aspect ratio ** 5.1 Stereo audio track for both dubs ** Audio commentary by the voice actors for the Ghidorah Empire of English and Japanese dub casts ** Audio commentary featuring the scriptwriters of both dubs ** Trio of Terror, a subtitled interview of Kōichi Yamadera, Minori Chihara, and Hideo Ishikawa where they discuss about the movie ** 90-minute documentary on the making of the movie, King's Gamble: The Making of King Ghidorah: Master of Monsters - The Motion Picture. ** Heineken commercials made on-set ** Storyboard gallery ** Theatrical trailers and teaser trailers ** A booklet featuring a essays by Gareth Edwards and Tim Burton, an interview with Katsushiro Ōtomo by Stuart Gailbraith IV, interviews and liner notes by Reijiro Koroku and Shoji Yamashiro, and autographed storyboard sketches by Akira Toriyama ** Steven Speilberg's appreciation video ** The History of Anime on Film, ''a 74-minute documentary by Akira Toriyama and Katsushiro Ōtomo ** A 30-minute documentary on the making of the series, "The Birth of Terror" ** A 35-minute video piece reconstructing the movie using Akira Toriyama and Katsushiro Ōtomo's storyboards, called ''Storyboards of The King of Terror ** Video interview with the English dub voice actors Trivia *The final battle is completely muted, with all sound removed save the soundtrack, until King Ghidorah deals the final blow. This is an Akira Kurosawa tribute, as Kurosawa had done the same thing for Ran '' during one scene which involved two armies setting fire to a castle while the all ambient sound is muted and the soundtrack is played over the scene. *Before the film first rolled at the theater, Akira Tarakada (the narrator of the movie and the series) walked in front of the audience, and gave the following speech: ''" 'Monsters are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. That is their tragedy.' Those words were spoken by my good friend, the late director Ishiro Honda. When Mr. Honda said those very words, it was a testament to what he wanted to see in monsters. Not your typical, run-of-the-mill, mindless monsters, but creatures that, much like us, have their own feelings, hopes, dreams, plans, desires and schemes. This film was made not only with the hope of entertaining you and many others the world over, but to also to show all present- and all who shall see - precisely what these things really are. Not a bunch of mindless beasts of burden, but beings that, in a sense of all things considered, are not too different from you and I. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention, and please do enjoy the film." **When the film made it's US debut on June 1, at Odeon Leicester Square, Patrick Stewart (Tarakada's counterpart for the English dub) said a slightly edited speech: " 'Monsters are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. That is their tragedy.' Those words were spoken by the late, great, director Ishiro Honda in 1956 when filming the classic movie ''Rodan. When Mr. Honda said those very words, it was a testament to what he wanted to see in his brainchildren. Not your typical, run-of-the-mill, mindless monsters, aliens, cyborgs, and such, but creatures that, much like us, have their own feelings, hopes, dreams, plans, desires and schemes. This film was made not only with the hope of entertaining you and many others the world over, but to also to show all present - and all who shall see - precisely what these creatures really are. Not a bunch of mindless beasts, but beings that, in a sense of all things considered, are not too different from you and me. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention, and please do enjoy the film."'' *This also was the first Godzilla movie to win Oscars. *The film was shot in Super Panavision 70 *''King Ghidorah's last words in the film, which are "''I am King Ghidorah." according to Shusuke Kaneko, are a homage to the last words spoken in the landmark 1988 anime film Akira, ''which are "''I am Tetsuo." Interestingly, most critics tend compare this movie to Akira. *Several characters from the TV series are given bigger roles, others had theirs downgraded. *Due to the OVAs being released after the movie, the characters from the OVAs are not featured. * A title card that was shown before the main credits reads "In honor of Tomoyuki Tanaka, Ishiro Honda, Ejii Tsuburaya, Akira Ifukube, Merrian C. Cooper, Edgar Wallace, Ray Harryhausen, and Willis O' Brien - the true masters of monsters." Category:Movies Category:King Ghidorah: Master of Monsters Fanon